Kim Jong-il look-alike in mourning for late leader

HE’S been cursed in the street, appeared in a movie and perfected the wave of North Korea’s “Dear Leader”. Now Kim Jong-il’s leading look-alike feels part of himself has died along with the late ruler.

[…] For more than a decade Kim Young-Shik has been moonlighting as an impersonator of North Korea’s longtime leader.

But since Kim Jong-il died on December 17, the 61-year-old father of two fears he may have to hang up his tailor-made suits after an illustrious career that saw him appear on Japanese TV and in a Middle East chocolate commercial.

“I feel very empty, as if a part of me died. People try to comfort me, saying some figures are more famous when they’re dead, but I don’t think it will be the case with Kim.”